Cleansing Rain
by FantomoDrako
Summary: A typical rainy day finds a young girl baring her soul to another who feels the painful pang on loneliness. They say rain cleanses the earth...what about people? Ry/Uk
1. Cleansing Rain

**Disclaimer:** Ranma ½ and all related characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Comics, Kitty Film, Shogakukan and Fuji TV. My name is, sadly, not in this list.

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Ryoga snorted as he sat huddled next to his backpack underneath a park bench. He glared at the reason for his ire, the sky, as it showed no sign of letting up on the rain anytime soon. The little black piglet drew many curious stares, but nobody approached him and for this he was grateful.

During his travels, many people had come up to him and tried to catch him, looking to snag a themselves a quick, tasty meal. Some had noticed the yellow and black bandanna around his neck, assumed he belonged to somebody and left him alone. More than a few girls had attempted to keep him, but he always ran and, despite being a piglet, he was too fast for any of them to catch.

As far as he could see, the only upside of his Jusenkyo curse was how close it let him get to Akane. Sadly, even that was starting to lose some of its shine.

Ryoga wasn't sure when it had happened, but he had been looking forward to spending time with Akane as P-chan less and less. If he had to guess, he figured it had started after the disastrous match with Ranma when he had used his perfected Lion's Roar technique. Akane had shattered his heart for the second or third time in a week that day and, though he had picked up the pieces, he had never truly recovered from that devastating blow.

All Akane ever really spoke to P-chan about was Ranma.

Whether it was something he had done to upset her directly or it involved one or more of his other fiancées, it all boiled down to Ranma in the end.

The only time she ever spoke about Ryoga was when he had just seen Akane as a human but ended up wet and running into her as a pig. Akane always described him as a nice boy; friendly and caring - the complete opposite of Ranma. However, she also kept telling P-chan how much she wished that Ranma wouldn't pick on 'poor sensitive Ryoga' and that Ranma really shouldn't bully the weak.

That Akane continuously thought him weak enough to need her verbal - and sometimes physical - protection from his enemy was a deep cut into his already incredibly battered pride. He valued Akane's opinion of him very highly and it hurt him to know that she didn't think he was capable of defending himself.

Still, he kept going back to the Tendo Dojo; kept returning to the girl that was so wonderful yet so cruel to him. Ryoga didn't have anywhere else to go, either as a human or a pig. At least at the Tendos, he was assured a meal and a roof over his head.

The black piglet sighed heavily. Latching his jaws onto his pack's straps, the little porcine heaved. Having no place else to go, he decided to try and find the Tendo Dojo. Ryoga knew he could at least have access to hot water there. The sight he made drew even more stares than he had already been getting, but he ignored them; far too used to strange looks by now.

The world was a large place when you were on foot. It was made infinitely larger when you traversed it as a small, foot-long animal that most wild animals saw as prey. Thankfully, Ryoga was in a town and did not have to worry about any wild animals. Still, he kept his guard up just in case. Dogs and cats had attacked him before and it was not a pleasant experience in the slightest. He was always able to fight them off, but he had never gotten away from such an encounter completely unscathed.

After thinking about why that was, Ryoga had settled on the conclusion that it was because they were true animals and were born that way. They knew every possible way to manoeuvre their bodies and how to properly interpret and react to any and all animalistic instincts. This theory mollified him slightly, but he was certainly in no rush to prove it. To do that, he would have to ask Shampoo or Mousse if they had similar problems when they fought with regular animals. That would mean admitting his less-than-stellar victories and he knew his fragile self-esteem could not bear the humiliation.

An hour or so later, thoroughly soaked and feeling angry and depressed, Ryoga simply gave up and flopped to the ground, letting his jaws slacken their grip. Taking an uninterested glance around, he tried to find any remotely familiar sights. Ryoga had stopped beside some sort of cement fence that went on for as far as his eyesight reached. There was a road on his other side and a few buildings across it. His muscles were crying out in protest to any movement and his jaws tingled unpleasantly from being clenched tightly for so long, sapping him of the will to move any further. Ryoga's attention was drawn when a door slid open across the road, spilling light forth that stopped just shy of him.

An unidentifiable figure, appearing black because the light was behind it, stood in the doorway. "Ugh, this rain really isn't helping my business," it said unhappily, apparently observing the sky.

Ryoga's ears pricked up when he heard the figure speak. He recognised that voice! He called out her name, though it came out as, "Bwee!"

Luckily she heard his squeal and peered in his direction. Spotting the blob of black through the sheet of rain, Ukyo ducked inside her doorway. Emerging a couple of seconds later, Ukyo opened her umbrella and walked across to Ryoga. Tutting to herself, she hoisted his heavy backpack awkwardly onto one shoulder and scooped up his small form with her other arm, tucking him in the crook of her elbow.

Once they were back inside her restaurant, Ukyo shook off the umbrella and slid it back into its stand before taking in her shop curtain; closing the restaurant for the rest of the day. Going over to the bar, she set the wet piglet down on the counter and set the backpack on the floor directly beneath. "Stay here, okay?" she ordered before rushing upstairs.

Now alone, Ryoga took the opportunity to let the warmth of the store wash over his wet, cold, tired and aching little body. He felt guilty as he saw the mess his muddy hooves were leaving on Ukyo's spotless counter. Silently, he vowed to make it up to her when he could. He had just completed his vow when Ukyo dashed back into the room with a soft, fluffy, light blue towel clutched in her arms.

Smiling at him, Ukyo sat on a bar stool in front of him and draped the towel over his back and head. Still smiling, the pretty chef began rubbing him dry. Ryoga squeaked in embarrassment and annoyance, but Ukyo decidedly ignored his protests. A couple of minutes later, Ryoga sat there with clean hooves, ruffled fur and an expression that was half-mortified and half-glare. How he pulled off such an expression - and as a pig no less - was a mystery to Ukyo.

Unable to contain it any longer, Ukyo laughed. "Oh, come on, don't be that way, sugar!" she said, giggling lightly. "I'll go and heat you some hot water for a nice bath now, okay? I just didn't want you catching a cold or something while waiting."

Ryoga snorted and gave her a disbelieving look. Ukyo might act like quite the tomboy, but she was a girl at heart and he knew she was enjoying this immensely. Girls, no matter how tomboyish they acted, still liked cute things to a degree. Ryoga in his pig form was no exception.

He watched her as she practically danced around the counter and into the kitchen behind it. Ryoga hadn't meant to come by Ucchan's, but he was very glad he did. He still needed some more time to think about his situation with Akane and being at her house, therefore having her around, would be far too distracting for him to think properly.

Maybe he could even speak to Ukyo of his troubles…

Ryoga shook his head violently, his ears wildly waving side to side. Ukyo was a very nice girl when she wasn't hitting him, but he was unsure if she was enough of a friend to divulge such personal things to. After all, they really only spoke about plans to break up Akane and Ranma; never anything personal beyond their non-existent relationships with the aforementioned pair as every conversation they had ever had involved Ranma and Akane in some way…

The Eternally Lost Boy sighed and closed his eyes, trying to wipe his mind blank. He had done an awful lot of thinking today, more than usual even for him, and he was left mentally and emotionally - as well as physically - exhausted.

Ukyo chose that moment to re-enter the room. "I've put the kettle on," she informed him cheerily. "You're only a little piglet, after all." Despite her earlier demeanour over the weather, the impromptu visit by P-chan had done wonders for her mood. Ukyo had been feeling a little stressed lately - running her business, going to school, fighting over Ranma… It had all become a bit too much. Having P-chan around to talk to would do her good as she didn't have anyone else to turn to for simple conversation. She got on fairly well with Akane, but she couldn't picture herself venting things to the other girl. No, for that she needed someone who wasn't directly involved in her problems. A little animal was perfect.

Sitting back on the bar-seat she had vacated not two minutes earlier, the okonomiyaki chef put her elbows on the counter and rested her chin in her hands, staring absently at the black piglet. "I don't know what you were doing next to Ryoga's backpack, P-chan, but he should be grateful that you were watching over it. Leaving it out in the rain like that, honestly… Though, it wouldn't surprise me if he dropped it somewhere, got lost, and you happened to find it. Akane keeps saying you're pretty smart for a pig. Were you bringing it to someone Ryoga knows, little guy?" she asked, reaching out and scratching him under the chin with a couple of fingers.

Ryoga, embarrassed though he was, could not help but melt at her touch. It felt surprisingly good and Ryoga suspected that it was an animal thing. They always liked being petted, didn't they?

"You know, you have amazing timing, P-chan. I wanted someone to talk to. Things have been getting even more hectic than usual lately. I'm getting a little tired of all the fighting, blackmailing and backstabbing. I can't stand that Chinese hussy, Shampoo! Or Kodachi, for that matter. They both keep trying to win Ranma-honey with potions and powders…"

The Lost Boy, now The Lost Piglet, stared at the girl before him curiously. He didn't know Ukyo very well, despite the many times that they had teamed up. He only knew that the two Saotome males had run off with her dowry when she was six. She had come to Nerima for revenge, but had somehow ended up pursuing the engagement. He was also well aware that she knew next to nothing about him. She knew about his abysmal sense of direction, the fact that he was always trying to best Ranma in combat and that he was head-over-heels for Akane.

"That's why I never really go all-out with Akane," she confessed. "She never tries anything underhanded like the other two. If we weren't engaged to the same guy, I'm sure we'd be great friends. Still, she stands between me and my love so she is my enemy!"

Ryoga blinked, unsure if he had heard correctly or there was water down his porcine ears. Now that he thought about it, Ukyo really only seemed to focus on fighting Shampoo and Kodachi. She had tried to set Akane up with him, meaning she cared something for Akane's happiness. He found it odd that he had never noticed this until Ukyo pointed it out. He supposed that he had been too wrapped up in Akane to take note of what the other girls did.

"I don't know about that psycho, Kodachi, but even though Mousse cares so much for her, I can't picture Shampoo loving him back even if she gave up on Ranchan. Akane on the other hand, I can easily picture with Ryoga."

Ryoga's ears immediately perked up at this. He had wondered if Ukyo was taking a shot in the dark when she had set him and Akane up in her restaurant. Apparently, she really thought he had a shot with the blue-haired girl. Feeling much happier than he had all day, he paid rapt attention to Ukyo's words.

"I mean, the guy practically worships the ground she walks on! He's certainly strong enough to protect her if someone comes after her to kidnap her or something. Provided he can find her…" Ukyo said, muttering the last part.

Ryoga still heard it and cringed slightly. Ukyo had just hit upon one of his greatest fears. What if someone got hurt or something and he was lost, unable to reach them in time? He had always had someone to follow so far, but that wouldn't be the case forever.

"You know what, P-chan? If Ryoga didn't act so love struck around Akane, I think she'd notice him more. To be honest, I think she thinks he's a weirdo whenever that happens," she admitted, her eyes unfocused as she stared unseeingly at the wall.

Ryoga made a strangled sort of sound. Was it true? Did his shows of affection weird out the love of his life?

"Ryoga's a really nice guy, though. He's always buying Akane presents, but I guess you already knew that, right? I wish Ranma-honey would buy me something…" she said, swinging her gaze around to rest on the youngest Tendo's pet. "I'll admit I'm jealous…Akane doesn't know how lucky she is getting all that stuff and having a cute pet to cuddle and talk to. It gets really lonely here sometimes…"

Ryoga gave her a soft, sad, "Bwee…" knowing exactly how she felt. Loneliness was the worst feeling. Anger dimmed over time until it faded completely, sadness could be swept aside if you knew how and happiness lasted only briefly until it was snatched away, leaving you feeling worse than before. Loneliness, however, was much harder to shake off as it sunk deeper than most emotions.

Ukyo sighed. "You're a great listener, P-chan. Maybe I should think about getting myself a pet like you? Nah, I don't think I'd be allowed with the restaurant and all. You should come and visit me more often, what do you think? I'll feed you and everything!" Ukyo had her hands clasped in front of her and she was staring at Ryoga with wide, hopeful eyes.

Knowing that there was no way he could refuse such an earnest request, he snorted an affirmative answer, nodding his head to make sure she understood.

It did not take long for Ukyo's mood to plummet once more. "Ranchan doesn't come here much. When he does, it's always for the food, never because he simply wants to see me," she whispered brokenly, tears building up behind her eyes.

Ryoga, like most males, hated to see a girl cry but had no clue what to do. While he mentally panicked, his piggy instincts took over and he trotted to the upset girl. Snuffling reassuringly, he laid his head against her left arm and rubbed it up and down as though patting her.

The chef gave a wet giggle, scratching the piglet behind the ears. "Yep, definitely jealous of Akane. You're such a sweet little thing!" A high-pitched whistle rang through the restaurant and Ukyo stood up, picked up Ryoga, and went into her small kitchen.

This was the first time Ryoga had been anywhere inside Ukyo's house beside the restaurant part. As Ukyo walked over to the steaming kettle, Ryoga was looking around.

The kitchen was not very large; about half the size of the Tendo's. It was full of things you'd expect to see in any kitchen, but there were no personal touches. Ryoga was deep in thought wondering why and so paid no attention as Ukyo grabbed the kettle and went upstairs to the bathroom.

The bathroom door wasn't shut properly, so Ukyo opened it with her foot as her hands were full. Setting the kettle down on the edge of a modest-looking bathtub, she placed the quiet pet inside it. "Alright, now for that bath, sugar. Well, it'll be more of a shower, but…same thing really."

Ryoga had barely heard Ukyo and was unaware of the kettle of hot water she was holding above him.

It's an interesting fact that all cursed victims of Jusenkyo can instantly identify the sound of water. Because most victims try to avoid cold water as much as possible, they develop a strange sense for water. Cursed martial artists of Ryoga's calibre, already with a sixth sense for incoming danger, have associated water with danger and can usually tell when water is heading their way.

Ryoga, of course, was no exception.

No matter how good his reflexes were, there was no way the piglet could dodge the stream of hot water. His eyes widened and he sent a quick prayer to whoever was listening that Ukyo would kill him as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Then the water hit him.

It flowed over his head, splitting into several smaller streams, and continued down his back. Ryoga could feel the tingle of Jusenkyo's magic, starting where the water was touching his skin and continuing to spread throughout his entire body. He could feel the almost instant shift from pig to human - so familiar by now that it barely registered in his mind.

Ukyo gasped and dropped the half-empty kettle as her hands flew to her face, automatically covering her eyes.

Ryoga sat there, naked except for his bandanna, doing his utmost to cover himself while stammering incoherently. He was making no sense beyond some unidentifiable garbles, but Ukyo didn't hear him at all.

The chef's mind had been stunned and only one thought was making its way to the forefront. "Y-you…you're…P-chan…?"

Ryoga squeaked and fell silent, becoming far too pale to be considered healthy as the blood drained from his face. Ukyo didn't say anything else, so he figured that this was his best chance to explain. He was thankful that she had left her giant battle-spatula downstairs behind the grill; he wasn't sure he'd survive the beating she'd inevitably dish out if she was armed with her favourite weapon.

He took a deep breath and said, "Ukyo, please listen to me! Yes, I'm P-chan, and I'm sorry that I never told you and that you had to find out like this, but nobody goes bandying about their biggest secrets! I didn't mean to hear all that stuff you said, but I couldn't help it. I'll never tell a soul, I swear, just please have mercy on me!"

Ryoga had said all of this fairly quickly and it was all Ukyo could do to keep up. It had been a rather long speech for the usually withdrawn boy. Shaking her head infinitesimally from side to side, Ukyo pushed many of the whirling thoughts in her head as far back as they would go; leaving her free to think in a more rational manner. After a couple of failed attempts to speak, something in the chef's brain seemed to click into place and the words tumbled forth.

"How could I have missed it? Your unmistakable bandanna, the pig-related insults Ranma-honey's always hurling at you, the strange reactions you've had around water the entire time I've known you… Heck, Ranchan's even called you 'P-chan' plenty of times!" Exclamation over, Ukyo seemed to sag as though saying all of that had drained her of energy.

Her vulnerable state did not last long as she puffed up in obvious anger. "Y-you…JACKASS!" she burst out, her loud voice piercing Ryoga's ears and - coupled with the furious tone it held - making him cringe reflexively. "I just told you a whole bunch of private stuff that wasn't meant for anybody else's ears!"

Even without her weapon, Ukyo was not helpless. In the way that only a hurt girl can, she swung her hand and slapped him right on the cheek, hard enough that - despite his formidable resistance and endurance - his head snapped to the side.

She pulled her now-stinging hand back for another strike but, as she caught sight of his face, lowered her hand until it was resting in her lap. His expression of utter defeat, shame and guilt caused something to tug at her heartstrings. She could not bring herself to inflict more pain upon the pitiful creature before her; he looked as though he were mentally and emotionally torturing himself quite thoroughly.

Tears were silently streaming down his face and he bit his lip hard, his fangs puncturing the delicate skin and drawing small beads of blood. He wanted to apologise again, to ask for forgiveness…but he couldn't form the words. Ryoga didn't want Ukyo to hate him. He had no real friends and, although Ukyo was bordering the line between acquaintance/ally and friend, she meant more to him than he realised. If Ukyo shunned him now, it would create an unhealable crack in his heart of glass.

"Alright," she said, anger colouring her tone, "I'll give you a chance to explain things. I don't want any of your melodramatics, just the facts, understand?"

Ryoga nodded and almost reverently accepted the towel she handed him, swiftly wrapping it around his bare body.

"Now…tell me how you got cursed."

Ryoga eased himself into a more comfortable position, blushing at his state of dress and close proximity to a pretty girl, and began to speak, keeping in mind to stick strictly to the facts to avoid incurring her wrath upon him again. "It happened when I followed Ranma to China and caught up with him and his father at Jusenkyo, though I didn't know it was them until the first time I arrived at the Tendos."

Ukyo nodded although her eyes narrowed slightly. "So…you just fell in a spring while you were there?"

"Oh, well, uh…no. Actually it's Ranma fault."

"What did I say about melodramatics? Everyone knows you blame Ranma-honey for everything!" Ukyo hissed dangerously at him.

Ryoga held up his hands and waved them as though to ward her off. "Wait! I'm telling the truth! Ranma knocked me off a cliff and I fell, landing in the Spring of Drowned Black Piglet!" he gasped out quickly.

Ukyo blinked and let her anger abate. "I knew there had to be some other underlying reason besides Akane that drives you to keep attacking him. This explains it. Right, so how did 'P-chan' come about?"

"When I first arrived at the Tendos, it was the middle of the night and raining heavily. Ranma and I were fighting in the yard when something struck my head from the side. The blow made me drop my umbrella and I ran for it, not wanting Ranma to see my cursed form. I'm not sure how it happened, but I ended up in Akane's room. She just thought I was some little lost animal and adopted me. I didn't tell her then because, not only was it embarrassing, it gave me a perfect way to get back at Ranma…"

Ukyo watched as he trailed off and gained a regretful look on his face. She couldn't blame him, really; she knew the feeling of needing to lash out at your source of anger in any way possible. "I'll grab your backpack from downstairs so you can get dressed. We'll continue this conversation later," she said, strolling out of the bathroom with a bit less grace than she usually displayed.

The Lost Boy continued to stare at the doorway long after she had passed through it. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions…and he was caught helplessly in the tempest. Ryoga struggled to conceal his inner turmoil from showing on his face as he heard Ukyo's footsteps echo up her short hallway, coming closer every second.

The bathroom door slid open and a dull thud was heard as Ukyo dropped the heavy backpack on the floor. "Here. I'll be waiting in the hallway to guide you downstairs, so don't be forever, got it?" at the other's vigorous nod, she slid the door shut and leaned her back against the wall on the staircase side of the bathroom.

Ryoga emerged fully clothed, although his hair was still wet, and wordlessly followed an equally silent Ukyo down the stairs and into the restaurant where he sat at the counter, dropping his backpack on the floor, and Ukyo pulled up a chair to sit behind the grill.

"I know that Akane sleeps with P-chan," Ukyo began frostily. "Do you have a good reason for _that_?"

At this, Ryoga's face quickly turned crimson. "W-well…it j-just sort of…h-happened," he stuttered out, twisting his fingers together and looking everywhere but at the irate chef.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Akane suddenly announced that we - P-chan and her - were going to bed. I was busy gloating at Ranma, so her words never hit me until we reached her room. I never peeked at her or anything! I always turned around whenever she got changed. I thought to myself that I needed a real reason to be in her room like that, so I vowed to protect her at night whenever I was around," he explained as calmly as he could.

Most of the fire went out of Ukyo's eyes. She knew - as did practically everyone - that Ryoga was terminally shy. Even though she knew he slept with Akane as P-chan, she could not bring herself to call him a pervert. The poor boy just didn't have it in him to do anything inappropriate with a girl; he would pass out with a bloody nose long before he got anywhere.

"Now, I know Akane and I are rivals for Ranma-honey's heart, but I still don't want to hear of you doing anything…untoward. Is that clear, buster?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Ryoga hastily, though happily, agreed, glad that she had apparently let him off the hook.

Ukyo suddenly grinned. Ryoga couldn't tell if it stood for something good or bad and stayed silent just to be safe.

"Oh, one more thing, P-chan…"

The bandanna wearing boy scowled at the - literal - pet name, but let it slide. It wouldn't do to anger the okonomiyaki chef at the moment.

"Try to find your way here if you need hot water, okay? It really is nice to talk to someone else and I imagine that you get lonely wandering around by yourself with no one to talk to either," she said, looking a little shy at her blunt admission.

Ryoga nodded, understanding completely, and simply said, "I promise."

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, wasn't that cute? Nah, not really, but it was something, right?

My all-time favourite Ranma ½ pairing: Ryoga and Ukyo. I don't know why exactly, but I do know that Akane is not good for the Eternally Lost Boy. She's too brash and he's too emotionally fragile to handle her temper.

I know Ryoga's no innocent, but people always seem to cast him in a darker light than he's earned. Yes, he's tried to kill Ranma for real, but he's saved him far more times. And, in the end, he couldn't even bring himself to let Ranma stay locked as a girl; risking his own life to jump in a rapidly closing fissure to retrieve the only cure. Now, are those the actions of a bad person? Like I said; he's no innocent, but he's not inherently bad.

If you guys want me to turn this into a multi-chaptered story, let me know in your review! 'Cause I will if enough people want it. Please review and let me know what you think!


	2. Haze of Uncertainty

**Chapter Two: Haze of Uncertainty**

A few wispy clouds drifted along with the aid of a light breeze, the sun proudly blazing in its place among the seemingly endless canopy of blue. The rainy weather had gradually given way to the warmth of the sun, resulting in this fair morning a little over two weeks later. Ukyo found herself frowning, despite the nice weather, to hide her anxiousness.

After Ryoga had promised to try and visit, he had swiftly left, leaving Ukyo alone once more with only her thoughts for company. She did want him to visit; she really had enjoyed the company, but was somewhat afraid to face him.

Ryoga Hibiki, long time enemy/rival of her beloved Ranma, knew many of her secrets.

Could she really trust him with that personal information? Would the Lost Boy betray her, spilling her insecurities to the other fiancées - maybe even to Ranma himself?

Ukyo had found herself asking these questions every day and had yet - even around two weeks later - to find an answer. She deeply regretted letting the wandering warrior simply stroll out the door all those days ago. Who knew where he was, who he had spoken to and what had been said?

Ukyo breathed deeply and sighed, unable to open Ucchan's Okonomiyaki as today was a school day. Her work sometimes became a bit monotonous for her, but she dearly loved it and would rather be serving customers in her restaurant all day than put up with another crazy scheme thought up by her coconut and pineapple-loving principal. Boring though her regular classes were, they helped take her mind off the fanged boy she had spilled her heart to.

Her slightly out of the ordinary behaviour had not gone unnoticed by Ranma and Akane but, after repeating that she was fine for what felt like a hundred times, they eventually left her alone. Ukyo knew that the pair had not entirely given up as she was constantly catching one or the other staring at her in class. She was seriously considering taking a sick day, but decided against it. She would only be alone with her thoughts again and that was the last thing she wanted.

In her bedroom, Ukyo had just finished getting dressed into her school uniform. She quickly brushed her hair and tied her bow. The teenage girl sifted through her things, locating her school bag and stuffing her school supplies into it, doing a quick double-check to make sure she had the right books and papers before descending the stairs and picking up her giant spatula. Now ready, Ukyo carefully locked the place up and briskly walked toward Furinkan High School.

The young chef took note of all the people she walked past, wondering what it would be like to live such a bland, normal life. Would she be happy if she was one of the ordinary people that stood on the sidelines and tutted about the property damage the crazy martial artists caused to the town?

Ukyo shook her head. No, she enjoyed being a part of the whacky things that took place. Life would be far too dull without the occasional kidnapping, new enemy, the fiancée fights and the strange contests that she was inevitably drawn to, either to sell okonomiyaki or to participate.

The school gates came slowly into view, many students milling around just beyond them, gossiping with friends or simply loitering. Ukyo let the chatter become meaningless background noise as she walked past everyone, heading for class 1-F. Once there, the chef sunk into her chair and let her mind wander, ignoring the few students who were also in the classroom.

Around ten minutes later, Akane walked through the door followed by a disgruntled-looking Ranma. He shot a dark look at the youngest Tendo's back before slumping into his seat while Akane stuck her tongue out at him as she sat at her own desk.

Ukyo ignored the pair's antics; far too used to their immature bickering to care. That little scene, however, sent a pang through Ukyo's heart. The way those two fought like that… The chef could tell that, deep down, they didn't mean whatever insulting words flew from their lips. Ranma and Akane would finish their spat, do their best to ignore the other for a while, then simply act like the reason for their argument never happened and things would be back to normal a few hours later before the process repeated in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

While Ukyo was glad that Ranma never fought with her like that, it also meant that Ranma had no strong feelings for her beyond the friendliness her showed her. Ukyo mentally gasped, using all of her impressive willpower to keep from looking at the pigtailed youth.

Did Ranma consider her…neutral? Not an enemy, of course, but nothing more than a friend from childhood that he could mooch free food from? Did he even view her as his fiancée, despite his claim that she was 'the cute one'?

Right at that moment, Ukyo wished for nothing more than school to be over so she could go home and think about her situation with Ranma without distractions.

Didn't people say that rain made lots of people sad? If it hadn't been raining that day… If that jackass had not wandered by… If she had not given in to her feelings and let them spill forth… Damn that pig!

Ukyo shook her head. Blaming Ryoga would get her nowhere. It was not his fault that she had reached some sort of emotional limit that day. What she wouldn't give to have the bandanna-clad boy stroll into her restaurant after school was done for the day! She was sure that once she spoke to him again, she would feel loads better. The stress of the past two weeks was really getting to her and Ukyo did not know how much longer she could hold out before she cracked.

Time dragged by excruciatingly slowly to Ukyo. The lunch bell, when it finally _did_ ring, took her completely by surprise, shaking her from her stupor. Gathering her things, she waited for most of the class to empty before slipping out. Ukyo made her way to a small, secluded spot by a lone tree. Unpacking her self-made bento, she reflected on all that she had revealed to 'P-chan' as she ate.

Did she really whine about _Ranma_ and say she was jealous of _Akane_ because of _Ryoga_?

As much as she would love to deny it, Ukyo knew it was the truth. Would someone - preferably Ranma - ever dote upon _her_ like the Lost Boy doted upon Akane? If someone brought _her_ gifts nearly every time they visited, would she, perhaps, fall for that person? Akane seemed to accept Ryoga's gifts with an air of friendly politeness, nothing more. Even after all this time, the chef knew that Akane only thought of him as a friend. Did Akane have no way to gently refuse Ryoga or was she simply naïve?

Ukyo shook her head. Nobody could be _that_ naïve; Akane probably just didn't want to hurt his feelings. Thinking about Akane's dilemma did nothing to help her sort out her own and the chef scowled. She should have been giving Ranma some of her delicious okonomiyaki for lunch, but here she was thinking about Akane, Ranma, Ryoga and all of their strange relationships. The chef had just finished off her bento when Ranma and Akane came into view, spotted her, and started in her direction.

What was that saying? Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Normally Ukyo would be overjoyed that her Ranchan was seeking her out, but she knew that both Ranma and Akane were about to inquire if she was okay for the umpteenth time. So, instead of welcoming him with open arms, Ukyo found herself wishing that he would go away.

"Hey, Ucchan, what are ya doin' all the way over here by yourself?" Ranma asked, grinning cheerfully to hide his concern. He had become increasingly worried over the fortnight and was determined to help Ukyo with whatever problem she seemed to have.

"Why don't we keep you company? It must be lonely sitting here by yourself," Akane suggested.

"Oh, uh…yeah, okay," Ukyo mumbled, trying, and failing, to sound chipper.

Ranma's grin slid off his face to be replaced with a frown. "C'mon, Ucchan, spill; I know that somethin's wrong," he said, a faint, pleading undertone barely detectable in his voice.

As faint as it was, Ukyo still picked up on it. "Look, it's nothing, okay?" she replied, annoyed.

Akane sat down beside the chef and took a moment to rearrange her dress so that it covered her legs before speaking. "Ukyo, you know you can tell us, right? We only want to help," the blue-haired girl said, looking at Ukyo with worry obvious in her eyes.

Ukyo sighed, relenting. "It's nothing that you two can help me with. But, if you see Ryoga, could you bring him to my restaurant?"

"Ryoga?" repeated Akane, confused by the strange request.

"Whaddya want with Ryoga?" Ranma asked, equally confused.

"Oh, he uh…accidentally took something of mine when he was at the restaurant a couple of weeks ago. I really want it back, but I have to wait for the jackass to come back to town. That's why I've been acting a little strange," she explained, hoping they would buy her story and, therefore, leave her alone about the matter.

"Oh…" Akane said softly, trailing off. "I'll keep my eye out for him and bring him to you if I find him," she promised.

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah, me too. If he's upset ya, Ucchan, you just let me know and I'll pound the jerk for ya!"

Ukyo almost giggled aloud at that. The irony of it all was that it was actually Ranma that had upset her all those days ago; Ryoga was innocent, Ukyo simply vented to him. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"What are friends for?" Ranma blurted out, happy that Ukyo had finally told him what was bugging her.

Ukyo's heart constricted at those words as though a big rubber band was tightening around it.

Friends?

"I-I… I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling very well. Could you please let the teacher know that I've gone home?" she choked, barely holding back a sob.

"Uh, sure thing…" Ranma said, blinking a bit at the abrupt request.

Akane frowned in friendly concern. "Are you alright?" she asked. After receiving the chef's reassurance that a bit of rest at home was all she needed, Akane conceded.

Standing up, Ukyo bid farewell to the pair and headed inside to fetch her things. Once she had retrieved her belongings, the despondent teen started trudging toward her house, valiantly trying to hold her tears back until she could release them in private. Sparing a glance at the sky, Ukyo noticed that it had become fairly cloudy. There were a few patches of blue scattered about, signalling that the sun was not going to give in without a fight.

Ukyo scowled at the sky, but was strangely pleased by the increasing cloud-cover. It was reflecting her mood quite nicely and Ukyo wondered - with the sky darkening as it was - if it would rain. If the sky _did_ decide to shed its own tears, the chef hoped it would do so after she was safely inside her restaurant; she had no desire to be caught in the rain.

She was now only a couple of blocks away from her destination. Speeding up a little, Ukyo's ears, used to filtering out mundane chatter, caught an unhappy-sounding male voice say, "Where was that restaurant? I promised Ukyo I'd visit and, if I don't, she'll hunt me down and clobber me with that oversized spatula of hers!"

Instantly recognising the woe-is-me undertone, Ukyo dashed around the corner to see Ryoga Hibiki; bandanna, fangs, scowl and all. "Hey, Hibiki!" she shouted, hoping he wouldn't wander off before she reached him.

"Oh, great, now I'm even imagining her yelling at me!" Ryoga whined, adopting a pained grimace. His head suddenly swung forward as something impacted with the back of his skull. Whirling around to see who or what was responsible, Ryoga's jaw fell open as he found himself facing Ukyo. An Ukyo who didn't look particularly happy as she stood there, hands on hips and an exasperated glare adorning her face.

"You weren't imagining it, I really WAS yelling you," she commented dryly. While she appeared a little angry on the outside, internally she was actually quite happy. Ukyo had been waiting for him to return for two weeks and, now that he was back, she would be able to sort some things out.

"Oh, well, that's okay then," he said. A couple of seconds later he added, "Wait, that didn't come out right…"

Unable to help herself, Ukyo giggled at him; at his words and the innocently befuddled look he was sporting. Barely aware of what she was doing, Ukyo took his hand in hers and said, "C'mon, Hibiki, I'll take you to my restaurant seeing as how I was just headed there myself."

Ryoga, blushing at the feeling of their clasped hands, could only manage to stammer his consent. This was one of the few times where the Lost Boy did not mind being led like a dog on a leash to get where he needed to go. Though he could easily admit to himself that _this_ particular time was actually enjoyable. Suddenly feeling horrified, Ryoga shook the thought from his head and concentrated upon memories of Akane instead. No matter how hard he tried though, he could not dispel the traitorous little voice that whispered how soft and delicate Ukyo's hand was and how utterly _nice_ it felt against his own.

"Here we are," Ukyo cheerfully announced, oblivious to Ryoga's internal battle. The fact that her hand was wrapped around his just hit her as she realised she needed both hands to unlock the door. Now sporting a brilliant blush of her own, Ukyo released his hand as though it had grown red-hot and fumbled around for a bit before she succeeded in getting the door open.

Ryoga followed her inside a little hesitantly, oddly pleased by the red complexion that holding his hand had produced on her face. Not really having any experience with women, he wondered if she was simply embarrassed to be leading him around, repulsed by him and blushing because of her own actions, or if she found him cute but dropped his hand because it was an act of betrayal to Ranma on her part?

Having never been called cute, hot, handsome or even sexy by any girl, he found himself adrift in uncharted territory and decided to retreat before he hit an obstacle and sank.

"I did say I'd feed you if you visited me, so sit down and tell me what you want," Ukyo said, bustling about behind the counter to keep her mind away from what she had done. "Nothing with pork, I presume so…how about a seafood okonomiyaki? Is squid okay with you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure…" Ryoga replied slowly as he sat down, unsure what to make of his current situation. He had spent the past two weeks trying to come to terms with all he had heard on that rainy day, and subsequently wondering if anything had changed between him and Ukyo because of it. His mind had plagued him by telling him that Ukyo would tell Akane; his dreams had been nightmares about such a scenario coming to pass and Akane's angry reactions.

Having Ukyo seemingly happy to see him and treating him so nicely had completely thrown Ryoga for a loop.

"One squid okonomiyaki coming up!" she crowed as she set about pouring the batter and mixing in the proper ingredients.

A slight frown crossed Ryoga's face and he said, "Are you sure? I can pay, you know."

"I'm a woman of my word," Ukyo replied, waving a hand as though to physically wave away his concerns. "So, how have you been?" she asked over the sizzle of his food on the grill.

Ryoga shrugged. "Same as usual. I'm not exactly sure where I was, but I g-got this f-for you since you can't have a pet…" he said, trailing off near the end as he stared at his hands in his lap, a light blush marring his cheeks. He bent down to retrieve it out of his backpack that he had placed on the floor next to him in an effort to avoid the chef's gaze for a few seconds.

"Oh, Ryoga, you didn't have to get me a present," Ukyo protested weakly. As the bandanna-clad wanderer brought the gift in question into Ukyo's eyesight, she could not contain the happy, girlish gasp that tore itself free from her throat.

Sitting on the counter where Ryoga had placed it was a soft, fluffy plush toy of some unidentifiable breed of dog.

"It's adorable!" Ukyo breathed, reaching out and tentatively stroking the brown fur on the plush pup's chest as it was in a sitting position.

The toy was light brown on its legs and underside, while the rest of it was a darker shade; its tail and ear-tips were black and its glass eyes were forget-me-not blue.

"I-I…don't know what to say…"

Ryoga swallowed nervously and asked, "Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it! But…are you sure you just want to give this to me? What about Akane?" Ukyo didn't want to refuse, but Ryoga always bought presents for _Akane_… What if Ranma and Akane found out that _Ryoga_ of _all people_ had bought her something so wonderfully thoughtful? Ukyo didn't reckon that Akane would think anything of it, but…would _Ranma_ care?

"I buy Akane many things, none of which she needs. You, however, have a great need for this particular gift, and that is precisely why I got it and want you to have it," Ryoga answered bluntly, sounding uncharacteristically forward.

Ukyo blinked a bit before smiling shyly. "Thank you, Ryoga, you have no idea how much this means to me," she said, carefully lifting the stuffed puppy over the grill and cradling it gently in her arms.

"Oh, but I think I do," he whispered to himself. His stomach chose then as a good time to announce the fact that it was empty and wished otherwise.

Reluctantly placing the gift down, Ukyo grabbed one of her mini-spatulas and flipped over the okonomiyaki that was still merrily sizzling away. Checking it with a practised eye as she flipped it, the chef announced that it would not take too much longer. "Can you hold out for a minute more, sugar?" she teased playfully.

Ryoga pouted as an answer, earning a short laugh from the girl.

Silence fell over the restaurant. It was not the tense, lonely silence that Ukyo had become accustomed to, however. The lack of noise had a distinctly…comfortable and companionable feel to it; those were the only words Ukyo could find that seemed to match.

Roughly a minute later, Ukyo placed the cooked squid okonomiyaki on a plate and set it before her guest with a slightly dramatic flourish due to her good mood. "Eat up, sugar!"

His empty stomach gave an inaudible gurgle, prompting him to sink his fangs into the food that tickled his nose with its enticing aroma. Quickly swallowing the mouthful, he said, "Wow, Ukyo, this is delicious!"

"Thanks," she said, beaming at the praise. No matter how often she heard it, those words never failed to bring a smile to her face. "If you're still hungry after that, let me know and I'll cook you another."

Ryoga, mouth full of food, didn't answer verbally, but gave her a look that clearly said, 'I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality'.

Ukyo didn't feel like arguing with the Lost Boy at the moment, he was far too stubborn, so she let it slide for the time being. Taking a deep breath, Ukyo braced herself to plunge headfirst into an awkward but necessary conversation. "Have you been to the Tendo's yet?"

"No, not yet," Ryoga replied, finishing off his meal and licking his fingers appreciatively. "You're the first familiar face I've seen in two weeks," he added, unaware of how depressing it sounded to the chef. Ryoga thought nothing of it; it was a simple fact of life for him.

"You…haven't told anyone of that day, have you?" she blurted, apprehensive of the answer.

Ryoga blinked a bit before shaking his head, sending his ebony locks swinging. "Of course I haven't told anyone! I happen to know the value of secrets, if you recall," he said, scowling faintly.

"Oh, right, yeah… Sorry, I've just been a bit on edge ever since that day," she said, sending him an apologetic glance. "It didn't help that Ranma and Akane were bugging me to tell them what was wrong, either," she muttered in a low tone, though Ryoga's sharp ears caught every word.

"Ranma and Akane were bugging you about it? What did you tell them? I've gotta have my story straight or they'll know something's up," he said, his scowl turning into a partially worried frown.

Ukyo told him her hastily invented cover story, inwardly marvelling at the lengths he was going to for her. He was even going to lie to his beloved Akane for her sake! Ukyo began to wonder if there were more depths to Ryoga Hibiki than anybody bothered to dig to. The intriguing thought was put out of her mind as Ryoga spoke again.

"That's easy enough to remember. Speaking of Ranma and Akane…isn't it a school day? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in class? I don't want you to get in trouble with that crazy principal of yours just because of me," he swiftly said, looking worriedly at her.

"Relax, I took the rest of the day off by telling Ranchan and Akane to inform the teacher that I wasn't feeling well and had gone home," Ukyo explained.

The worried look did not leave his face as he continued to stare at her. "You're not sick are you?"

"What? No, sugar, I'm fine, I just needed to get away from those two for a bit, they were really starting to wear me down."

The worry vanished from his face to be replaced by a small, relieved smile.

It was odd, Ukyo thought, how open they were being with each other. Although Ryoga always wore his heart on his sleeve, she was much more reserved when it came to overly emotional outbursts; her personal negative feelings were an exception. The only time she was not afraid to show them was when she was facing off against Shampoo, Kodachi and even Akane on occasion.

A light pitter-patter noise slowly invaded the restaurant, the sound snapping Ryoga to attention in an instant. "Oh, no," he murmured, gaining a dark yet resigned expression.

"What's the matter, sugar? It's only a bit of rain," Ukyo said. After catching the bemused look Ryoga was sending her, Ukyo's brain finally caught up and put two and two together, leaving the girl feeling like smacking herself in the head. "Oh, right, rain! Well, don't I feel stupid now?"

"Don't worry about it, it just takes a bit of getting used to," Ryoga said.

A little stunned, Ukyo quickly shook it off and blurted, "How can you stand it?"

The fanged boy blinked, his eyes wide as he stared at her over the counter due to the unexpected question. "How can I stand it?" he repeated incredulously. "I don't, not really. But it was either I learned to live with the curse somehow and adapt, or let myself be eaten by someone, human or otherwise. And I was not about to admit defeat," he said firmly, scowling at the end and curling his upper lip back a bit, just enough to expose one of his rather large canine teeth.

"You know, I never thought about the curse this way with Ranma-honey. If he gets splashed, he just has to worry about perverts, but you have to worry about so much more; people, animals, a whole lot of things that wouldn't bother you as a human, but could injure you as a little piglet… I can't imagine how horrible it must be to be lost in the woods as a pig, some hungry bear or wild dog chasing you down…" Ukyo trailed off, her imagination kicking into overdrive and providing her with scenes best left in scary movies or animal documentaries.

The light pitter-patter of the rain began to sound like horses' hooves, beating down louder and louder, transforming the gentle rain into a downpour.

Both teens were staring at the door due to the rain. They were just about to resume their conversation when a strange sliding noise followed by a rather loud bang made them both jump in fright.

Ryoga drew his umbrella, ready to defend himself, Ukyo and her entire house if need be.

Ukyo was fervently wishing that her battle-spatula was in hands' reach instead of being two feet away. She began to inch towards it, ready to lunge for it if the situation called for it.

The restaurant door, which Ukyo had closed to grant her and Ryoga some privacy for their discussion, was now wide open. The rain sounded louder than ever.

Because the clouds had darkened the sky considerably, all Ukyo could see in her doorway was a large, indistinct, slightly hazy black figure.

Part of the figure moved forward a step, dripping water onto the once-dry wooden floor. The figure began moving further into the restaurant, becoming clearer as it did so, until Ukyo and Ryoga could tell that the large figure was, in fact, two people standing close together.

Ukyo was mentally kicking herself for not turning on the lights and, as though one of the two people was reading her mind, it said, "Hey, Ucchan, where's the light switch?"

The voice, though distinctly female, was instantly recognised by both of the battle-ready teenagers. Ukyo almost laughed. She had been so fearful of a burglar or some weird beast like Pantyhose Taro, but it was only Ranma. The other person was Akane, if she had to guess. She swung the hand that had been reaching for her giant spatula's handle up and let it rest on the counter, while she told Ranma of the light switch's location.

Artificial brightness bathed the room with its soft, yellow radiance. Blinking to help her eyes adjust, Ukyo could see Ryoga doing the same. Both of them turned to face the pair who had inadvertently intruded upon their conversation. As Ukyo had thought, it was indeed Akane, the blue-haired girl standing slightly off to one side behind the equally wet redhead.

"Hey, Ukyo! I'm really sorry about barging in on you like this, but we were hoping to wait until the rain let up a bit before we walked the rest of the way home," Akane said. Her eyes then alighted upon Ryoga and she added, "Hey, Ryoga, I'm glad you're back in town!"

"Ryoga's back?" Ranma asked, turning around to see for herself. "So he is! Didja give whatever-it-was back to Ucchan yet?" Ranma asked, directing the question right at Ryoga and staring him down. If pig-boy hadn't returned the object, Ranma was fully prepared to force him, girl-form or not. Ranma did care for Ukyo, even if it wasn't in a romantic way like the chef wanted, and she did not like seeing her hurt in any way. Her childhood friend had not really been happy for an entire fortnight and the cause of it was sitting right in front of her, glaring hotly back at the pseudo-girl.

"Of course I did!" Ryoga said snippily, restraining himself from yelling at or hitting the boy-turned-girl while he was in Ukyo's restaurant. He was sure she would not take such behaviour, and the subsequent collateral damage, well at all and would extract her payment from his hide.

"Is school over already?" Ukyo asked, changing the subject in an effort to disperse the sudden tense atmosphere.

"Miss Hinako told us to go and buy ice-cream as an assignment to find the cheapest, so she let us go," Akane explained, taking a seat next to Ryoga after closing the door to dampen the noise of the rain somewhat.

"Did I miss any homework?"

"Not besides the ice-cream assignment," Ranma said, rolling her eyes at the childlike teacher's weird homework as she took the seat on the other side of Akane.

Ukyo smiled at the disgruntled redhead in a knowing way. "Want some hot water, Ranchan?"

Ranma perked up at this. "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks!"

Ukyo nodded and said, "One kettle of hot water comin' right up!" as she went into her kitchen, leaving Ryoga with his crush and rival.

"So, Ryoga, how have you been?" Akane asked as a conversation opener.

"Yeah, Mr. P, where did you wander off to this time?"

Akane elbowed her rude fiancé in the ribs none too gently, making her wince and shut her mouth with a huff. "I'm sorry, ignore him."

Since Ukyo had not yet returned from the kitchen, Ryoga slowly began to describe all the places he had been in the last two weeks that he could remember.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ranma ½ and all related characters in any way. If I was as talented as Rumiko Takahashi, I would not be jobless and poor.

**A/N:** Everyone that reviewed (anonymous or otherwise) all wanted me to continue. I already had plans to continue, so I was not going to disappoint. -grins-

I personally think we need more Ryoga/Ukyo stories. There are a few great ones on the site, but the number of Ranma and Akane fics far outweigh Ryoga and Ukyo. I call for anyone who's willing to step up and write one! Please!

Now that that's out of the way… What did you think of chapter two? I know, nothing much is happening, is it? I don't like rushing into things; more often than not, it ruins the story.

Please review and tell me your thoughts!


	3. Deal or Fold?

**Chapter Three: Deal or Fold?**

Ranma, once again male, put his right elbow on the counter and put his head in his hand, leaning upon his arm. His left forearm was partially leaning against the counter, the fingers of his left hand drumming on the surface, the noise quickly getting on everyone's nerves.

"Ranma, if you don't stop that infernal tapping, I'm gonna break your fingers one by one!" Ryoga eventually snapped, glaring daggers at the other boy.

"Heh, like you could," Ranma replied in a cocky tone, desisting nonetheless.

Akane sighed at the boys' behaviour. "It's almost been half an hour; you'd think the rain would've let up by now."

"It seems the sky has other plans," Ukyo commented in a bored tone.

"You have playing cards, don't you, Ukyo?" Akane asked, looking as bored as the chef felt.

Ukyo nodded. "Yeah, I've got a couple of decks that I bought when I was helping Ranma-honey train for his rematch against the Gambling King. I'll go get one," she said, walking up the stairs with a relieved smile, glad that someone had found a way to ease the boredom that permeated the building like a shroud.

Ranma tried to hide the sudden grimace that Akane's suggestion brought forth. He had no talent for card games at all and was not eager to get his butt handed to him by the girls. Ranma did not know how good of a card player Ryoga was, but he didn't want the fanged martial artist to find out that he could easily beat Ranma this way. Of course, Ranma had no plans to lose, especially to Ryoga, and was confident that his quick hands would assure his victory. He disliked cheating, but his pride would not allow him to be bested in anything if he could help it.

A couple of minutes later, Ukyo came back down the stairs with a deck of cards in her right hand and a mischievous grin on her face, which she made sure to flash at Ranma before she schooled her expression into something more neutral. Ukyo sat at one of her tables and motioned for the others to join her, all three of them doing so without much delay. Nimbly shuffling the cards, the chef asked everyone what game they wanted to play.

"Old Maid?" Akane tentatively suggested.

Ranma huffed in contempt and Ukyo said, "I've had enough of Old Maid to last half a lifetime, thanks."

"What about Go-fish or Snap?" Akane asked, wracking her brain to remember card games that she used to play with her sisters when she was younger.

"Why don't we play Fifty-two Pickup instead?" Ranma replied sarcastically.

Ukyo, despite sitting directly opposite Ranma, beat Akane to the punch and whacked Ranma lightly across the head. "Jackass," she said affectionately. "How about Blackjack?"

"Blackjack? Oh, okay," Akane said.

"Do you know how to play?" Ukyo asked, catching Akane's hesitation.

Akane grinned sheepishly. "I do, it's just been a while. I'll pick it up again when we start playing," she explained.

Ukyo then turned to Ryoga, who had been quiet ever since she had gone upstairs, and asked if he agreed to play. She smiled when he gave an affirmative nod and once Ranma said yes, Ukyo began dealing out the cards.

Each player had two cards lying on the table in front of them, one face-down and the other face-up for everyone to see. Ukyo had the queen of clubs, Ryoga got the nine of hearts, Ranma and Akane had the eight and ten of spades respectively. Everyone picked up their cards, careful to keep the face-down one hidden from the others.

"This one will be more of a practise run, just to get everybody into the swing of things. Does everyone agree to simply to go through the deck with no flips?" the chef asked, glancing at the other three. Ryoga was on her right, Akane on her left while she was facing Ranma. All three nodded. Starting with Akane and moving clockwise, everyone drew one card; leaving Ukyo to draw last as she was the one who had dealt them. There was an unspoken signal that everyone would stand at the end of one draw; Ukyo laid her cards down first.

"I've lost this one, I got twenty-two," she said with a mock sigh.

Ranma gave a resigned huff. "Twenty-three."

Akane grinned and said, "I guess I win!" Lying in front of Akane was the ten of spades along with the eight and three of hearts.

"Not quite," Ryoga, showing his own cards; the nine of both spades and hearts along with the three of clubs.

"Guess the practise round is a draw," Ukyo commented, making sure everyone put their cards to one side before dealing another round. After they all drew one card, the four teens showed their hands at the same time.

Ranma frowned at the six of diamonds and hearts and the ten of diamonds that lay before him.

Akane revealed the queen of spades, the seven of clubs and the ace of hearts.

Ukyo smiled as she showed the five and ten of hearts with the four of diamonds.

Ryoga concealed his smirk as he presented the four and king of clubs along with the seven of hearts.

"How do you do that, man?" Ranma demanded, a look comprised of part awe, part jealousy and part suspicion etched on his face as he stared at the pig-cursed martial artist.

"Just lucky, I guess," Ryoga answered.

Again Ukyo waited until the table was clear before dealing. "Stand," she said after everyone had drawn.

"Twenty-six," Ranma grumbled.

"Twenty-three," sighed Ukyo straight after.

Akane grinned. "Twenty-one," she said, showing off the two of hearts, ace of spades and eight of diamonds. "Let's see you pull another one out of your hat," she added, turning her grin towards Ryoga.

Ryoga shrugged and said, "Okay." He lay down his cards; two of diamonds, nine of clubs and the king of spades. "Twenty-one," he announced, unable to keep a grin off his face this time.

Ukyo was laughing internally. She thought it was about time that the poor wanderer caught a lucky break. The chef dealt the cards one last as there would not be enough left for a fifth round. This time it was Ukyo who grinned; declining to draw a card. "Twenty-one," she proudly stated, showing the king of hearts and the ace of diamonds.

"Oh well, eighteen isn't bad," Akane said, placing the ten of clubs and both the four of hearts and spades in front of her.

"Cards hate me," Ranma stated sourly, glaring at the six, two and five of clubs before him. He shot another glare as the short-haired girl broke out into giggles.

"Thirteen? Fitting," Ukyo said, trying to smother giggles of her own. "C'mon, Hibiki, let's see 'em!"

Being as casual as he could, Ryoga lay his cards down so that the other three could see them. There, lying before the Eternally Lost Boy was the queen of hearts, the king of diamonds and the ace of clubs. "Twenty-one," he said, his smirk revealing his fangs.

"Okay, wise-guy, how about one more round with just me?" Ukyo asked, fully aware that the odds were roughly fifty-fifty. She had just as much of a chance to win as the bandanna-clad boy did.

"Two cards each?" Ryoga asked for clarification as there was only five left.

Ukyo nodded and dealt the cards one last time, placing the last one in the centre of the table. She frowned as she lay her cards down. Ukyo had gotten the three and six of spades.

Ryoga put his own hand down, his smirk growing wider.

"Eighteen," Akane counted quickly, looking at the eight of clubs and the jack of hearts.

"Unbelievable…" Ukyo breathed out, slumping back in her chair. "Your luck with cards is as good as Ranma's is bad!" she exclaimed, Akane nodding in agreement opposite the smug boy.

Ryoga shrugged, his smirk fading. "I usually end up playing some kind of card game against people in exchange for something I need if I win. I rarely play for fun; it's usually for some money, supplies or a place to spend the night if I don't feel like using my tent."

"But you're too young to gamble!" Akane gasped, staring wide-eyed at her nomadic friend.

Looking a little abashed, Ryoga gazed at the tabletop and decided to forgo an answer. It was hard to answer something when you had no answer to give. With no more conversation masking the noises coming from outside, Ryoga could hear the rain clearly again. Even with the silence inside the restaurant the rain sounded…diminished. Ranma seemed to have noticed it as well.

"It sounds like the rain's eased off," the pigtailed boy said, more to the girls than anything. Getting up from the table, Ranma slid open the front door a bit to check. "Yeah, we can go home now, Akane."

"Oh, good," the youngest Tendo said. "It was fun hanging out like this, we should do it more often," she continued, smiling warmly at the chef and the Lost Boy.

"Aw man, I wish I had an umbrella! The rain's slacked off a fair bit, but I'll still turn into a girl if I go out there," Ranma complained, glowering at the sky and wishing - not for the first time - that his father had never found the pamphlet that mentioned Jusenkyo.

Ukyo stood up and walked over to Ranma. "You can borrow mine if you like," she offered, plucking the aforementioned object from its place near the door and holding it out to her fiancé. It was the same umbrella she had used when fetching P-chan off the street a fortnight ago.

"Hey, thanks a bunch, Ucchan, you're a real pal!" Ranma said cheerfully, taking the proffered umbrella. "I'll bring it back tomorrow," he added, throwing a pointed glance at Ryoga over his shoulder.

"Thanks again for letting us stay," Akane said before waving goodbye and hurrying after Ranma, immediately getting into an argument about sharing the umbrella.

The sound of their bickering voices became fainter until Ukyo could hear them no longer. She started as a hand suddenly came to rest upon her shoulder, its weight strangely reassuring; letting her know that she was not alone. She slowly turned her head, the worried face of Ryoga Hibiki entering her field of vision.

"Ukyo, what's wrong? You suddenly…froze," he said in a hesitant manner, as though she was a bomb about to explode.

Ukyo was a strong girl and she was determined not to break down in front of Ryoga; once had been enough! Keeping her voice even and steady, she asked, "Ryoga… If you had a loving fiancée, would you simply call her your 'pal'? Would she be your 'buddy'?"

Ryoga blinked; that feeling of being adrift slamming into him again. "Uh…no. If I had a girl that loved me like that, I'd view her as a being a bit more special than a friend. I've noticed that in all the places I wander through and all the people I meet…that someone only calls someone else their 'buddy' when they want something from that person," he answered honestly. He instantly regretted his answer when Ukyo's expression swung south, _far_ south. Before he could start stuttering apologies, Ukyo held up a hand and Ryoga grew still while watching her intently.

"Now don't go saying sorry for telling the truth, sugar. I'd rather hear the plain truth straight up, no matter how painful, as a sugar-coated lie would only end up hurting worse in the end. You can only hope for so long…" she said. A few awkward seconds passed before a small, soft sob came from the chef and her shoulders hunched a little as she tried not to curl in on herself.

Ryoga's normally hard, angry gaze softened as he gently led the girl to the counter with the grill and guided her onto one of the seats, taking the seat next to it for himself. Not knowing what to say, the Lost Boy simply sat there, offering his silent emotional support.

Tears began running down her face as she continued to sob, putting her elbows on the counter and resting her head in her hands, covering her eyes and cheeks. Ukyo had clutched at even the smallest glimmer of hope for quite a while, but now… Now she could fool herself no longer.

Each little thing that Ranma did to upset her in some way she used to be able to brush off as though it never happened or was of no importance. Ever since that rainy day, however, Ukyo had not been able to turn a blind eye anymore. All of those little things were slowly returning to haunt her, and now she was looking at them without Ranma-tinted glasses in front of her eyes.

Ukyo Kuonji did not like what she saw.

Her hunched shoulders trembled as her sobs increased in intensity. Despite being labelled as 'the cute fiancée', Ukyo vividly recalled the first time she had gone anywhere with Ranma while there were no other fiancées around. Looking back, Ukyo could tell that Ranma and Genma had wanted her to accompany them to Yomogi Valley simply because, unlike Akane, she could cook perfectly edible food. No doubt they avoided asking Shampoo - and even Kodachi - due to the high risk factor of potions, powders and other dubious ingredients that both girls had a tendency to slip into food and drink.

Shampoo may not have been there, but her great-grandmother was. The tiny old woman had mostly ignored Ukyo, really only speaking to her when answering or explaining something. Ukyo hadn't minded since they _were_ technically enemies, though the chef was grateful to the Elder for helping her Ranchan get his strength back.

Feeling silly for letting her thoughts wander, Ukyo scrubbed away her tears with the back of her hand. "Look at me, crying like a little kid whose ice-cream melted before I had a chance to eat it," she remarked, trying to bolster herself. She turned to her guest, about to apologise for her sombre mood, but found that she was unable to get the words out. Ryoga was staring at her, a knot of worry on his brow, as though he was contemplating whether or not to hug her in an attempt to cheer her up or if the risk of being called a pervert and clobbered with a giant metal spatula was too big of a con to outweigh any pros.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he suddenly asked, catching her by surprise.

Ukyo's mind immediately said, "Yes!" but the word that rolled off her tongue was, "No."

"Are you sure?" Ryoga persisted.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I…don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet," she admitted, feeling ashamed that she had let her emotions get the better of her again. In front of Ryoga again, no less, even after she had all but vowed not to!

The fanged martial artist gave her a reluctant nod. He was not happy about the entire situation, but he knew better than to push the girl before him; she would only start pulling away.

Ukyo suddenly had an unexplainable urge to be alone. Considering that she had wanted Ryoga around for the past two weeks, this urge made no sense to the confused chef. She did want to be alone at the moment, but Ukyo knew that once Ryoga left, she would start wishing for company. The Lost Boy was not many people's choice for a companion, but he was Ukyo's friend now and she didn't want to lose that new, tenuous friendship over her little scene. Deciding to buck up and be the tough Kansai girl she was, Ukyo plastered a smile on her face and asked him if he'd like a drink and something to eat. He had only had one okonomiyaki since she had found him earlier, and she was beginning to feel like a bad hostess.

"Um… A drink would be nice. Do you have anything fizzy?" he replied, blushing a little at his own request.

"Fizzy?" Ukyo blinked. "I'm pretty sure I've got some cans of soda lying around," she answered, hopping off the seat and walking around the grill to her kitchen. "Is plain lemonade okay with you?" she called after a minute.

"Yeah, that's fine," he called back.

A few seconds later, Ukyo reappeared holding two cans. Instead of sitting at her usual spot behind the grill, she reclaimed the seat next to Ryoga, holding one of the cans out to him as she did. Two metallic clicks broke the silence, followed by the soft hiss of pressurized air being freed.

Feeling curious, Ukyo asked, "Why did you want something fizzy?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, water gets a bit old after a while and even tea is only hot water," he replied.

"True," Ukyo said, nodding absently.

Silence became dominant once again as the two teens' feelings of awkwardness began to rise steadily. Neither of them had spent so much time in anyone's company without something happening; whether it was a newcomer to Nerima that was more than likely after Ranma for one reason or another, or someone with an agenda usually fuelled by jealousy. Ukyo began to wonder if Tsubasa Kurenai was suddenly going to pop out of something.

A random thought struck the teenage girl at that moment. Akane had Kuno chasing her, Mousse hounded Shampoo, Ukyo had to fend off Tsubasa and Ranma had nearly everyone after him. Ryoga had no-one.

Sure, there were the multiple times that Ranma had pretended to be the Lost Boy's fan or fiancée or something, but those didn't count. Ranma always disguised himself and targeted Ryoga when he was after something.

It hurt Ukyo to think that Ranma could act so casually cruel to the sensitive boy. Didn't the pigtailed jackass know that mental and emotional scars ran so much deeper than any physical wound? The fanged martial artist was so internally scarred, he could utilise an attack formed from despair and depression with almost frightening ease.

That thought stopped Ukyo's mental train of thought with a jarring screech.

How healthy could the constant use of that attack be to Ryoga's state of mind? No wonder the poor guy always looked glum whenever saw him! Thinking back, Ukyo realised that Ryoga had always been like that and that the behaviour was simply a little more pronounced after he had learned the Lion's Roar technique. Now that they were officially friends, Ukyo felt a bit protective of the pig-cursed teen and vowed to keep him happy whenever he was around. Much like Ryoga, Ukyo had been a bit of an outcast growing up and valued friends almost as highly as he did.

"Thanks for everything today, Ukyo, but I should get going before the rain picks up again," Ryoga said, a small undertone of reluctance making its way into his voice. Standing up, he slid his arms into his pack's straps and tugged it into a more comfortable position against his back.

"Hey, it was no problem, sugar," Ukyo replied. She watched him walk over to the door and slide it open. The sudden urge to ask him to spend the night overtook her, but she pushed it away. What was a little rain to him? As long as he kept under his umbrella, he would be fine. So why should he stay at her place? She opened her mouth to ask, but managed to squish the urge. "Try to visit again tomorrow, okay?" she asked instead.

"Sure, but I can't make any guarantees," he replied, smirking to hide his anger at his non-existent sense of direction. "Bye!" he said, stepping over the threshold of her restaurant, flicking open his umbrella, and disappearing amongst the rainy streets.

"Bye," Ukyo said softly.

* * *

"What do you think it was that Ryoga returned?" Akane asked when she and Ranma were alone in the living room.

Ranma shrugged and took a sip of his tea. "I got no idea," he replied absently.

Akane frowned at her fiancé's disinterested attitude. Wasn't he even the least bit curious? What if something was secretly going on between her friend and her rival fiancée? Akane shook her head. Sure, Ryoga seemed to act a little differently around Ukyo; more grounded, focused and he didn't stutter nearly so much, but Ukyo was still pursuing Ranma with the same fervour she always had, so surely Akane was simply seeing things that weren't there. Still, Ukyo had been much more cheerful when she and Ranma had taken refuge from the rain in her restaurant… And Ryoga _had_ been the only possible cause for the chef's uplifted mood that Akane could see…

"Here you are, freshly baked and still warm," Kasumi happily announced, her light voice breaking Akane away from her thoughts. The eldest Tendo daughter gently set a plate of rather tasty looking cookies down upon the low table the two sixteen-year-olds were leaning their elbows on.

"Wow, thanks, Kasumi!" Ranma said, snatching a cookie immediately after flashing a cheerful grin at the demure girl.

"Oh, my, Akane, is something wrong?" Kasumi asked, seating herself at the table between Ranma and her youngest sister.

"No, no, I was just thinking," Akane hastily assured. She was saved from any further probing by an unhappy, piggish squeal coming from just beyond the edge of the porch.

Ryoga had been wandering the streets, looking for a place to pitch his tent, when someone on a delivery motorbike had driven past, sending the water that was running along the gutter like a mini river splashing straight onto the cursed boy. His eyes did not work quite as well at night when he was a pig, so he had ended up wandering around even more blindly than usual and was unaware that he was in the Tendos' backyard. It did not take him long at all to pinpoint his own location once he saw Akane rushing towards him.

"Oh, P-chan, you're finally back! Poor little baby, you're all cold and wet. Let's get you inside and dry you off," she cooed happily, picking up the little black piglet and cradling him in her arms as she carried him inside.

A warm glow spread through Ryoga at the physical contact, but it was somewhat dampened by Ukyo's voice echoing in his head. Not wanting to spoil any chance he might have with the youngest Tendo, Ryoga decided to follow Ukyo's advice and try not to act love struck. Since he had no problem talking normally to Ukyo, perhaps he should picture that he was speaking to Ukyo instead? It might just help him get over his shyness concerning Akane…

Ranma sent his usual half-glare at the little swine, but refrained from making any sarcastic comments due to how happy he had made Ukyo earlier that day. Besides, the porker looked a little…subdued?

As Akane sat back down at the table, Kasumi re-entered the room carrying a couple of towels and handed them to her youngest sister.

Ranma blinked at the elder girl; he hadn't even notice her move! If Kasumi took up the Tendo branch of Anything-Goes, Ranma was quite sure that she would swiftly progress further than the current practitioner. She wouldn't have Akane's brute strength, but Kasumi possessed the discipline and emotional centre that Akane didn't, and it was this small fact that would allow Kasumi's skills to grow past Akane's. Ranma shook his head. Kasumi was too dedicated to her current role in the Tendo family to change it.

Akane eagerly grabbed one of the towels and threw it over Ryoga, scrubbing him with it gently yet firmly; the experience feeling like déjà vu as he recalled Ukyo doing the same thing.

Ryoga hated having his short piggy fur ruffled. It felt like having your clothes on backwards; tolerable, but not exactly comfortable. He endured in silence, acting as though he was enjoying himself. Once Akane deemed him clean and dry, she gathered up the towels and took them to the laundry, leaving her pet with Ranma and Kasumi.

"I should start making dinner," Kasumi suddenly said, walking serenely toward the kitchen.

Ranma had to fight the urge to grin in anticipation of another delicious Kasumi-cooked meal. Ryoga, too, was looking forward to it as Akane always fed him bits and pieces off her own plate. This small fact never failed to bug Ranma.

"What brought you here in the rain, Mr. P?" Ranma asked, for once not infusing the question with any innuendo or sarcasm.

The little piglet gave him a half-hearted glare and his piggy equivalent of a shrug.

"You don't know or you were lost?"

Ryoga hopped onto the table and tapped a hoof on it twice.

"Lost, huh?"

Ryoga simply nodded, not feeling like getting into a fight at the moment. Ukyo's behaviour throughout the whole afternoon had him unusually concerned. Something seemed very wrong with Ukyo, but Ryoga had no idea how to help as she hadn't told him the problem. Thinking about how sad she had been made his own spirits sink, stripping him of the will to fight, even though his opponent was Ranma.

Even Ranma, who was not very observant when it came to feelings, noticed that all was not right. "Something wrong, Ryoga?" he asked seriously. Despite all, he did view the Lost Boy as a friend. Their friendship was incredibly twisted and hardly recognisable, but it was there.

The black piglet shook its head, but there had been a tiny moment of hesitation that had not escaped Ranma.

Ranma was about to call him on it, but the pigtailed boy was derailed when Akane came back and sat down. Huffing in disappointment, Ranma wondered if he could pluck P-chan from Akane's room later and force him to talk. Ranma hated being out of the loop. Between Ukyo's, and now Ryoga's, strange behaviour, Ranma got the feeling that whatever this new development was, it was pretty big.

Dinner went normally. Afterwards, everyone drifted off to do their own thing. Kasumi had to wash the dishes; Nabiki had to take care of something, the shogi board beckoned to Soun and Genma, while Ranma and Akane had homework that they had been putting off. They had been given the homework a week ago and it was due tomorrow. Ranma had only finished about a third while Akane only had a few things left to do.

As Akane pored over her work at her desk, Ryoga was sitting on her bed instead of her lap. The best way to cool down his emotions, he figured, was if he started by distancing himself a little. It was not easy to force himself to stay away from Akane's warm, inviting lap, but he knew it was for the greater good. If he could not do this, how was he supposed to control himself around her? The one time he had been able to fully express his feelings - due to the waterproof soap he had inadvertently stolen from Shampoo - his passion scared her almost as much as his casual strength. That simple fact continuously cut him to the core and was his main driving force behind his current determination.

Some time later - Ryoga had no idea how much time had passed as he had lost track - Akane finally put her pencil down and closed her exercise book, raising her arms above her head and giving a content sigh when her back popped, relieving some of the stiffness.

Ranma, too, had finished his homework. He had worked quickly, wanting the rest of the night to snag the pig and have a chat. When the house was completely dark and quiet, minus his old man's snoring, Ranma snuck out the window and onto the roof. Silently making his way across until he was above his fiancée's room, Ranma hopped down and eased the window open.

The curtains swayed slightly in the light breeze, as if they were waving in greeting to the guest that slipped past them into the room they guarded.

As Ranma's eyes adjusted, he looked to the bed. Akane was lying there of course, but there was no black lump in her arms or sharing her pillow. Confused, Ranma swept his gaze around the room. Had the little porker gotten lost already? Ah, no, there he was, sleeping at the foot of the bed. Ranma frowned. He had no complaints concerning Ryoga's chosen spot, but _why_ was he sleeping _there_? Ranma knew that Ryoga took every opportunity to snuggle up to Akane, so why was he not where he usually slept?

One of Ryoga's long porcine ears perked up and swivelled in Ranma's direction. Rousing himself, Ryoga stood and turned to face the pigtailed boy, baring his powerful piggy teeth and growling softly to convey the message that intruders were unwanted.

Ranma raised his hands in a passive gesture, indicating that he didn't want to fight. When the piglet stopped growling, Ranma swiftly snatched him and fled to the roof. Running across it, Ranma jumped off and ran into the dojo, shutting the door behind him.

Ryoga squealed loudly in protest, writhing about and trying to bite Ranma or score him with his hooves. After almost a full minute of this struggling, Ryoga went limp. He really hated being manhandled, it only served to remind him how small and helpless he was in this form.

"Now that you're ready to listen," Ranma said sarcastically, "I only grabbed ya so we could talk." Picking up a kettle that was next to a backpack, Ranma poured its warm contents over the black piglet.

Ryoga, butt naked, sat there with his mouth firmly shut.

"I went and found your stuff," Ranma said, tossing the backpack to Ryoga.

The Lost Boy grunted in a vaguely thankful way and retrieved his clothes, dressing in silence.

"Come on, Ryoga, tell me what's goin' on," Ranma cajoled. "Somethin's wrong with Ukyo and somethin's wrong with you, too. Spill!"

Looking hard into Ranma's storm-blue eyes, Ryoga saw plenty of determination, as well as worry and honesty.

Ranma crossed his arms, signalling that neither would leave the dojo until the young Saotome was satisfied.

Ryoga took a deep breath.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** In no way what-so-ever do I own Ranma ½ and all related characters. I only own this storyline and my own style of writing.

**NOTE: **I am looking for a beta for this story. I would have used the beta search feature, but I much prefer someone to volunteer themselves. That way, they're less likely to get sick of it since they read it themselves. I've run across this problem before and it can be a pain to sort out. So, anyone interested?

**A/N:** Ah, still not much is happening, huh? Well, not physically. I'm an emotional thinker, psychologically inclined. If you're like this, you'll understand that I actually got quite a bit done in this chapter. Stories aren't all about fighting, you know. I'm not saying there won't be fighting in this, I just won't be focusing on it much. Sorry.

The game of Blackjack was based on a stream of games I played with my mother until we ran out of cards in the deck. I slightly modified the rules to make it less arduous to write and more fun to read. I hope you enjoyed it. (Since Ranma sucks at any kind of card game, I figured I should make Ryoga a pretty good player. I did give a legitimate reason for his card skills, so I hope you don't think I was just picking on Ranma.)

Let me know what you think, reviews are wonderful motivators to write more. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

~Fantomo


	4. Philosophies and Fortune Cookies

**Recap:** "Hey, it was no problem, sugar," Ukyo replied. She watched him walk over to the door and slide it open. The sudden urge to ask him to spend the night overtook her, but she pushed it away. What was a little rain to him? As long as he kept under his umbrella, he would be fine. So why should he stay at her place? She opened her mouth to ask, but managed to squish the urge. "Try to visit again tomorrow, okay?" she asked instead.

"Sure, but I can't make any guarantees," he replied, smirking to hide his anger at his non-existent sense of direction. "Bye!" he said, stepping over the threshold of her restaurant, flicking open his umbrella, and disappearing amongst the rainy streets.

"Bye," Ukyo said softly.

* * *

"Come on, Ryoga, tell me what's goin' on," Ranma cajoled. "Somethin's wrong with Ukyo and somethin's wrong with you, too. Spill!"

Looking hard into Ranma's storm-blue eyes, Ryoga saw plenty of determination, as well as worry and honesty.

Ranma crossed his arms, signalling that neither would leave the dojo until the young Saotome was satisfied.

Ryoga took a deep breath.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Philosophies and Fortune Cookies**

"It's none of your business, Ranma," Ryoga said with an air of superiority.

"What?"

Ryoga's eyes narrowed at the outburst. "I meant exactly what I said. What part did you not understand?" he said in an icy tone.

"There's no need to be such a jerk about it," Ranma huffed in retort.

Ryoga's narrowed gaze turned into a full-blown glare. "If you can't see the problem for yourself, then you can't help fix it if that's what you intend to do."

Frowning in confusion, Ranma regarded the other boy. "Whaddya mean by that?"

"Figure it out," Ryoga said, shrugging in a careless manner. "Open your eyes. I'm not helping you; my interference wouldn't help in the slightest anyway."

"Why are you spouting cryptic junk like a fortune cookie?" Ranma asked in frustration.

"Why are you such a blind, dense jerk?" Ryoga asked in reply, muttering too low for the pigtailed boy to hear.

Ranma crossed his arms and stared hard at the Lost Boy. He knew Ryoga was stubborn, but this was ridiculous. "Why can't you just tell me? What did you do to Ucchan?"

"Me?" Ryoga exploded angrily. "You…" he continued, lacing the solitary word with as much venom as he could muster, "you're unbelievable!" Snatching up his backpack, Ryoga sent Ranma one last glare before turning his back and storming away, heedless of the late hour now that the sky was clearing.

"What was all that about?" Ranma murmured to himself. He did not move from his spot on the dojo floor for a long time.

* * *

It was late and Ukyo still hadn't gone to bed. She had kept her restaurant closed due to the weather, and had spent the time after Ryoga had left mulling everything over. She was currently sitting on her bed, staring at the toy dog that was sitting in front of her. It stared back unseeingly.

The small toy symbolised so much and it stirred Ukyo's emotions into a whirlpool every time her eyes alighted upon the furry form. Ever since accepting the engagement, Ukyo had been waiting for such a sentimental present. It bothered her that the gift was not from Ranma, but the sincere feelings behind Ryoga's reason were more than enough to wash away her disappointment.

While staring at the toy, Ukyo had been going over how to tell Ryoga her problem. Once alone, Ukyo realised that she did indeed want to tell Ryoga and tell him while she still had the resolve.

"It's the start of the weekend tomorrow; maybe I should track the big lug down to spend the day here in the restaurant. I don't think I'll have the time to spare to go searching; I get a lot of early customers on the weekend. I can't walk away for who knows how long… I need the money. Oh well, I guess I'll wait to see what happens."

Ukyo got up and turned off her light. She gave the puppy one more glance before picking it up and snuggling into bed with it beside her, firmly encased by her arms.

The night passed quickly for those wandering among dreams, the minutes and hours slipping by like water through a sieve. When morning came, as it inevitably did, the sun did its best to banish the realm of dreams from the minds of the slumbering. The sunlight spread over Nerima, its rays gradually becoming warmer, promising fairer weather for the day.

The sun's rays were impeded by the walls of a tent, but Ryoga groggily opened his eyes anyway, his internal clock informing him that it was morning. After his hasty departure from the Tendo dojo, Ryoga had walked around in the dark for a while until he came upon one of the vacant lots scattered throughout the Furinkan ward of Nerima. There were several various bits of construction leftovers stacked near one of the four fences, a couple of cement cylinders were partially sunken from their weight pressing down the last time the ground was muddy. Ryoga had pitched his tent about a third of the lots' distance from the fence opposite the side the cylinders and crates were, knowing from experience that it was the best spot to set up camp.

Giving a small groan over the sleep he had lost because of Ranma, Ryoga stubbornly shut his eyes again for thirty seconds before he was forced to admit defeat. He heaved a sigh, crawled out of his sleeping bag, and set about his morning duties. When Ryoga was properly awake, he fished out some food for breakfast and sat inside his tent to eat it. For some reason, he didn't feel up to sitting out in the early morning sun.

He ate slowly, trying to preserve the calm moment for as long he could. As he chewed his last mouthful of breakfast, Ryoga replayed last night in his head. The Lost Boy thought he had done an admirable job concerning his behaviour around Akane and nodded slightly, silently vowing to keep it up. Akane would surely turn away from Ranma once he had complete control over his strength and emotions! A dreamy expression crossed his face and Ryoga quickly shook his head. He could not afford to let himself get carried away anymore.

When he felt that he could drag on the moment no longer, Ryoga frowned and began rolling up his sleeping bag. Again he moved slowly. Once it was rolled up, he tied it to the top of his backpack before sitting down and staring at it absently. For some reason that he could not fathom, Ryoga did not want to face the day.

It made no sense to the cursed teen, especially considering the wonderful progress he had made with Akane yesterday. Perhaps it was already time for another trip away from Nerima?

No, that was the coward's way, and Ryoga was tired of running from things.

Making up his mind, he shouldered his backpack, took a deep breath and stepped out of his tent. He quickly packed the tent away and slowly walked in a random direction, paying close attention to his surroundings. Ryoga had no desire to suddenly find that he had wandered out of town.

Ryoga also had no desire to run into Ranma, so he was going to avoid the Tendo Dojo if he could, even if it meant that he would not see his beloved Akane. That left two choices, though one was very unappealing. One option remained.

Ryoga was going to search for Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.

An hour later Ryoga was still in town, though he was, as usual, completely befuddled as to his exact location. Ryoga didn't like to think of himself as being lost, he was just geographically misplaced. He glanced up at the sky.

The sun was shining, doing its best to burn away the rain clouds left over from last night. Ryoga liked the sun. Even if the sky was covered by clouds, the sun was always there and such a constant was a major thing to the cursed martial artist. It was the same reason he liked the moon, though the lunar orb seemed sadder and lonelier to look at.

Nights, to Ryoga, were dark and solemn, even if the moon was bright and full. He never travelled during the night if he could help it, and unwanted thoughts always intruded into his mind while he was alone in the dark, usually aided by the fact that, more often than not, he camped in a creepy forest or some spooky woods.

Would anyone miss him if he never wandered back to Nerima? Would anyone know if he was killed by a landslide in his sleep or something?

These were the kinds of thoughts that haunted him in the darkness, though the light made them flee back to the black abyss for a short while. They would always come back and be chased off. It was a cycle that Ryoga didn't know how to break.

He was incredibly grateful that the grey clouds of yesterday had faded to mere wisps of white, allowing the sun's kiss to caress the Earth over Nerima. Everything seemed a tiny bit better and brighter on sunny days.

Two birds flew overhead, singing their joy to the world while they danced about each other. Ryoga watched them enviously then turned his head away with a soft snort. He continued walking, keeping an eye out for anything even remotely familiar.

"Oh, hello Ryoga," a cheery voice chirped from behind him.

He spun around and found that he was facing Akane and Ranma. He mentally swore. "Hello Akane," he replied after a moment, acknowledging Ranma's existence with a withering glare.

"I'm glad we ran into you," she said, purposefully ignoring the glare aimed at her fiancé, "I was hoping to talk to you before you left again."

"You were?" Ryoga said with a trace of hope. Had Akane come to tell him that she was breaking the engagement? A scene of Ranma being kicked out of the Tendo's played in Ryoga's head, only to be abruptly cut off. Ranma would not be with her if it were true. Ryoga's chest suddenly felt constricted. Had she come to tell him something that his poor heart of glass could not take?

Akane nodded. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you about Ukyo."

"Uh, okay," Ryoga hesitantly replied, not knowing what to expect. Ranma was looking at Akane with a fair bit of badly hidden surprise, so whatever Akane wanted to say would also be new to Ranma. That didn't help much in figuring out what though.

"I just wanted to know how things are between you and Ukyo. She seemed okay yesterday, but I want to make sure," Akane said, watching Ryoga's face carefully for his reaction.

Ryoga blinked and wondered what to say, eventually settling on, "Things are fine."

Akane was a little taken aback by the short and rather unhelpful answer. "Oh, well, that's good then," she said somewhat lamely.

"You sure there's nothing wrong?" Ranma piped up.

Red swam across Ryoga's vision as anger coursed through him. His right fist lashed out without warning. Ranma's quick reflexes saved him from a possible concussion, but the force of Ryoga's jab left a line across his cheek that oozed red. Akane gasped at the suddenness and viciousness of the attack and took a couple of steps back, away from the immediate crossfire zone.

Since Ranma's head was on the right side of Ryoga's fist, he brought up his right leg without moving his clenched hand, trying to trap Ranma between the two limbs. Ranma ducked his head under the outstretched arm and rolled away to Ryoga's left.

"Whoa, settle down, man! What was that for?" Ranma asked indignantly. "I only asked ya a simple question!"

Ryoga's arm and leg returned to his side, though he looked no less angry. He stared at the pigtailed boy disdainfully. "I'm not the one you should be asking," he ground out semi-calmly. He didn't want to completely lose his temper and say something he shouldn't, especially with Akane only a few feet away.

"There ya go sounding like a fortune cookie again! Why can't ya just give me a straight answer?" Ranma burst out.

Akane stared at the pair quizzically. Ryoga looked unfazed while Ranma was plainly getting frustrated. Compared to normal circumstances it was almost a complete role-reversal.

Ryoga was relishing the moment. It was not often he got one up on Ranma and he enjoyed every time that he did. "I'm giving you answers that are straight enough. If you'll excuse me, I have better things to do with my time today than waste it on you. It was nice to see you Akane."

"Oh, uh, goodbye…" Akane said with a start.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Ranma called out to Ryoga's back.

The Lost Boy paid no heed and continued walking away. Angry thoughts in his head tore at each other like a pack of hyenas. Ryoga _had_ to talk to Ukyo as soon as possible. After fifteen minutes of walking around in blind anger he stopped. Turning his head to try and get his bearings, he saw a shop curtain to his left that proudly displayed the words 'Ucchan's Okonomiyaki'. Ryoga almost sagged with relief, thanked whatever deity had guided him here, and entered the building.

The shop wasn't full, though it wasn't empty either. There were a few people sitting at the tables chattering away about this and that, discussing their everyday lives over the course of the past week or so. Ukyo found her customer's chatter rather mundane and most of the problems they complained about were actually fairly trivial.

There were times when Ukyo listened and times she tuned out, depending on her mood. She had been listening to two women discuss a light bulb in one of their houses that needed changing, and which of their husbands would most likely agree to replace it. Her attention was diverted when someone walked in, though her customary greeting died on her lips upon sighting the person.

"Ukyo! Wow, am I glad I actually made it here!" Ryoga exclaimed with a tight smile.

"Oh, Ryoga, come in and sit down!" Ukyo said happily, gesturing to the seat at the counter directly in front of her.

The bandanna-clad wanderer took the proffered seat and set his backpack beside the stool. He heaved a barely audible sigh as he let himself relax and get comfortable in the cosy atmosphere. "If he hadn't moved, Ukyo, if he hadn't dodged… I think I would've killed him," he said in a low tone. He took a deep breath and held his head in his hands, letting the last of his anger drain out of him.

"Ryoga, what are you talking about?" Ukyo asked slowly in a calming manner.

"I…ran into Ranma and Akane a few minutes ago," he said hesitantly.

He seemed reluctant to say more and she didn't want to push him, especially after he had only just calmed down. The chef took his reluctance to speak as an indicator that the encounter didn't go well. Horribly, in fact, if one took into account his earlier statement. Since he said Ranma dodged, the pigtailed teen obviously _wasn't_ dead, though Ukyo had mixed feelings whenever she thought about him lately.

"I know I've said that I've wanted him dead before," he said, his eyes gazing forward, unseeing. He was speaking so softly now that Ukyo leaned further over the counter, her nose only a couple of inches from his. "I know I've said it heaps of times. I don't want to become a murderer!"

He looked up. His hurt, pleading eyes caught hers. A little voice inside Ukyo's head urged her to take his hand within her own; do something to comfort and reassure. This was obviously hurting him, so Ukyo put a finger to her lips, letting him know that he could stop talking. He shook his head a fraction to each side.

"The truth is," he went on haltingly, "the truth is that I'm scared. I'm terrified, Ukyo."

"Of what?" Ukyo asked anxiously.

Ryoga's gaze lingered on her face for a moment longer before he turned, unable to meet her worried sea-green eyes. "Me," he whispered with a wavering voice as tears pricked the corners of his eyes.

"What?" the chef whispered sharply.

"I've been letting my anger get the better of me for so long now that it takes control. You've seen me, Ukyo. You know the damage I can do. What if I went too far before I could snap myself out of it?" His eyes had a dark, haunted look about them, and their intense depths chilled Ukyo to the core.

Without thinking, desperate to get rid of that haunted look, she slapped him lightly. He gasped, raising a hand to his cheek more out of shock than any actual pain, and looked up at Ukyo with hurt and confusion written all over his face.

"I guess I deserved that," he mumbled, transferring his gaze to his lap, where he was twisting his fingers around one another in anxiety.

"You did," Ukyo firmly replied, "but not for whatever reason you're thinking of. I hit you because you're an idiot. Again, for a different reason than the one you've got in your head," she said as Ryoga's head snapped up.

"And how do _you_ know what I'm thinking?" he asked, though there was no real sarcastic sting behind the words.

Ukyo sniffed, drew back, and folded her arms. "I'm a girl. I just do," she answered blithely.

Ryoga snorted lightly and rolled his eyes, obviously not buying into her reason.

"All you need to do is train yourself to stay calm and not get angry while fighting," Ukyo said with a grin.

The corners of Ryoga's mouth slowly twitched upward until the chef was rewarded with a large radiant smile aimed solely at her.

* * *

Ukyo's room was furnished almost as sparsely as her kitchen. Ryoga thought it would be rude of him to gawk since it was her _bedroom_, so he did his best to keep his eyes firmly on Ukyo's hair. Akane's hair had been that long when he had first met her. He realised then that after it had been cut accidentally, she had never tried to let it grow long again.

Why? She had been terribly upset at first. Did she keep it short to stop him from feeling guilty? No, that wasn't it. He was just a weird stranger to her then, and she had been only too happy to hit him when he told her to.

He shook his head a fraction. It was a trivial matter and he could not afford the distraction right now. He had hesitantly followed her up here after she had closed the shop later that afternoon. They stopped smack in the middle of her not-so-roomy bedroom. She gestured for him to sit then did so herself.

"What do you know about meditation?" she asked suddenly, the question cutting through the silence.

"I know the basics," he replied. "I used to do a bit of meditation years ago, before I really started to get lost."

"At least we won't be working from scratch then," Ukyo said with a nod. She set a candle in a small dish before him. She had one in every room along with a box of matches in case of a blackout.

Ukyo struck a match and lit the candle. "You are like this candle, Ryoga. When you're angry, you burn anything that gets close enough. And, just like this candle flame, you have practically no control and eventually burn out, leaving you empty and exhausted. Am I close?"

Ryoga simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Without any outside influences, the flame stays straight, calm, and doesn't hurt anything," Ukyo continued as though she had never stopped. "I want you to concentrate on the flame. Empty your mind of everything except it. You must become it; calm, with no distractions or influences to send the fire in any direction. Do you understand?"

Ryoga nodded again, still keeping his mouth shut.

Ukyo got to her feet. "I'll be downstairs cleaning up. Just yell if you need me." The chef strode out of the room, her eyes lingering on Ryoga's back for a moment before she gently closed the door.

Ryoga turned to look at the door, staring at it oddly for a few seconds. He turned back and let his gaze be drawn to the tiny fire, now calm once more after Ukyo's passing had sent it flickering. It was very delicate, the slightest breeze breaking its straight stance. He would have to control his breathing, keep it soft and slow.

Had Ukyo planned it that way?

His eyes went to the door for an instant, but he flicked them back to the candle, inhaled deeply and slowly, and tried to tune his senses to focus on nothing but the little flame.

It was a lot harder than he initially thought. He could hear birds outside, twittering away without a care in the world, and his mind began recalling all the strange and beautiful birds he saw on his travels. He wiped the images from his mind and replaced them with the lit candle, trying his hardest to ignore the chirping.

* * *

The cleaning had been finished over an hour ago, but Ukyo had stayed downstairs doing homework. She wanted to give Ryoga enough time and space to really practice his concentration before she disturbed and distracted him. She was starting to get very bored, and it was also beginning to turn dark. He would have to leave soon if he wanted enough light left to set up his tent.

However, there was certainly no guarantee that she would see him again for another fortnight as soon as he step foot beyond her door. One day of training every couple of weeks or so was not going to cut it. Maybe he could camp in her backyard?

Ukyo decided to ask Ryoga and headed up the stairs, halting momentarily at the door before easing it open. Ryoga was still sitting exactly where she left him, though he didn't react to her presence. She stepped into the room and tip-toed across the floor to sit on the other side of the candle. It was still burning, though it only had a couple of minutes of life left.

The fanged teen's gaze was glued to the flame and Ukyo could see the tiny fire reflected in his dark hazel eyes. He showed no sign of knowing she was there. She had disturbed the flame, however, and a slight frown marred Ryoga's face until it centred itself. Ukyo held her breath and realised that she couldn't hear Ryoga breathing. She slowly let her breath out when she noticed his chest shallowly rising and falling.

Oh good, she thought, he had figured out the breathing part of the exercise.

Ukyo stayed there, watching Ryoga as studiously as he watched the candle, until the wick finally ran out and the flame grew smaller, flickered feebly, and died.

The absence of the flame made the room seem darker than it actually was. Ryoga blinked rapidly to dispel the effects of staring for so long and looked up, jumping with surprise upon spotting Ukyo. He mumbled something about not seeing her there and averted his eyes. It was then that he took note of the darkening sky through the window.

"How long have I been up here?" he asked in vague disbelief.

"A little over an hour," Ukyo replied.

Ryoga quickly got to his feet, almost knocking over the wax-filled dish in his haste. "Sorry Ukyo, but I have to go before I lose the light. Thanks for all of your help today!" he said, turning towards the door.

"Ryoga, wait!" Ukyo blurted. He stopped, turned his head, and gave her a partially impatient questioning look. "About that… How would you like to stay here?"

Ryoga's eyes grew wide, a fierce blush stained his cheeks, and he opened and closed his mouth soundlessly like a starved fish. "S-s-st-stay h-h-here?" he stammered, blushing so hard he reminded Ukyo of the candle flame he'd been watching.

The chef then realised her mistake. She frantically waved her hands back and forth in front of her body. "No! No, no, no! I don't mean _here,_ here! Not inside, you know; outside. In the backyard. In your tent." She spoke very fast, in a nervous babble, and it was all Ryoga could do to keep up.

His blush began to fade as he nodded, an indecipherable expression replacing the embarrassment. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It would take ages for me to find this place again otherwise. I'll just go set up my tent then, if you're sure you don't mind…"

Ukyo shook her head. "No, no, you go right ahead. I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't serious." She fidgeted a bit, feeling like she was walking on eggshells. "You can use the bathroom if you want to wash up," she said, carefully keeping her tone light.

"Uh, thanks, that's really nice of you," Ryoga said a little awkwardly, but honestly. He began walking backwards, uncomfortable with her being so near while he was in her _bedroom_ of all places, especially after the generous gesture she had just made. "I'll have a quick bath after I put up my tent. Which I'm gonna do right now because it's getting dark, so yeah," he said, his speech unintentionally speeding up the more nervous he became.

He bumped into the doorframe, startling himself so much that he almost whipped around to demolish the wall. It took all of his willpower not to do exactly that. Instead he turned around slowly, pointedly ignoring Ukyo, and walked out of the room somewhat stiffly. As he descended the stairs Ryoga organised his thoughts.

Ukyo's offer had been completely platonic. If she had invited him to stay _inside_ the house, well, that was a different matter entirely. There was nothing wrong with borrowing her bathroom for a bit; he had helped himself to the Tendo's bathroom often enough. The problem was that he didn't know Ukyo as well as the Tendos. Sure, she had inadvertently spilled her heart to him, but that didn't mean he really _knew_ her.

The more he thought on it, the more he realised all over again that he didn't know Akane that well either.

He located his backpack without too much trouble and slowly headed away from the front door, figuring that he'd run across the back door sooner or later. After five wrong turns, two of which were the same door, he stumbled into the laundry and could see the backyard through a small window.

Ryoga deliberately took several short steps away from the door, walking backwards and keeping it directly in his line of sight in a further attempt to prevent accidental wandering. Now roughly in the middle of Ukyo's little yard he dropped his backpack and set up his tent with his usual efficiency. With his task complete a few minutes later, Ryoga gathered his bathroom supplies and slowly but surely made his way back into the house.

After some meticulous navigation, and three wrong turns, Ryoga arrived at the head of the stairs. He immediately spotted Ukyo standing in the hallway. She unceremoniously pointed at the door she was standing next to and Ryoga got the hint right away. Ukyo stepped back and watched impassively until he had one foot in the room before she wandered off and left him to his own devices.

Ryoga reached behind and closed the door without taking his eyes off the bath. As the hot water started running, Ryoga slowly began to strip, throwing his boxers on top of the rest of his clothes just as the bath became full. He turned off the taps and lowered himself into the water, breathing a sigh of contentment.

Ryoga hadn't realised how tense he was until dull aches made themselves known as his muscles relaxed. Did his run-in with Ranma really affect him so much? He always got keyed up when he confronted the pigtailed boy, sure, but this seemed deeper. He had been angry and anxious for the better part of the day and it had obviously taken a worse toll than usual.

Perhaps it was a combination of his usual frustration with Ranma, his new approach concerning Akane and this strange new path he found himself walking down with Ukyo? Whatever it was, it had taken a fair amount of energy, leaving Ryoga feeling a little drained.

He felt like he could go ten rounds with a mad boar and not even work up a sweat; his physical energy was as full as ever, so it had to be something else. Ryoga decided not to worry about it and sunk an inch or two further into the steaming water.

Two weeks ago he had been placed in this bath, as a pig, by Ukyo. Two weeks ago Ukyo had poured hot water over his little piggy body. Two weeks ago he had transformed back into a human, completely naked, right in front of her. Two weeks ago Ukyo had seen who Ryoga really was. Two weeks ago she had accepted him, curse and all. Two weeks ago Ukyo had become his one and only true friend.

He patted the side of the bath with a certain degree of fondness.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ranma ½. I can't draw people, so how in Rassilon's name do you think I could produce the manga or anime? (Though I am practicing!)

**A/N: **As I seem to say every author's note, "I'm incredibly sorry for the long wait!" I haven't abandoned this story, I've just been writing small snippets of fics every now and then. Considering how many I'm currently in the process of writing, that means I don't get much done on any of them unless I only take one notebook with me at any one time. (Though my notebooks contain two fics; one at the front and one written in the back.)

Oh, and **Mike 5 Tone**… unfortunately this site wipes out email addresses or I would have gotten back to you.

Still, I hope I haven't lost my touch with this story. I know a few people were enjoying it quite a bit and I hope all of you like this chapter just as much, if not more. Please review and let me know what you think.

~Fantomo


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